Ford Sales In China Rise 49% In 2013

(RTTNews) - For the year 2013, the Chinese arm of Ford sold 935,813 wholesale vehicles, up 49 percent from 626,616 vehicles in last year, said Ford Motor Company (F) in a statement Monday.

John Lawler, Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor China, said, "2013 has proved to be a milestone year for Ford's accelerated growth in China as we delivered on our plan to bring to China seven of Ford's next-generation global vehicles, including the Ford EcoSport, the Ford Kuga, the new Fiesta, and the all-new Mondeo. In 2013, strong Chinese customer demand for our greatly expanded lineup of vehicles allowed Ford China to set yet another annual sales record,"

Furthermore, the company introduced the Ford Focus ST, the Ford Fiesta ST, and the Ford Explorer in China during 2013. Including the sales of Ford Edge, the four imported nameplates sold 26,856 wholesales in 2013, significantly higher than 8,108 in 2012.

The Ford Focus nameplate sold 403,640 wholesales in 2013, compared with 296,360 wholesales last year. Ford's Changan Ford Automobile (CAF) achieved a milestone with sales of 678,951 wholesales in 2013. This compares with 418,500 wholesales of CAF sold in 2012. December sales of CAF rose 42 percent to 70,098 wholesales from 49,212 wholesales a year ago.

Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, Jiangling Motors Corp. (JMC), sold 230,006 wholesales, up from 200,008 wholesales in 2012.

Currently, the stock is trading in the pre-market hours up 1.35%, or $0.21, at $15.72 on the NYSE.